WTT Contender Novo Mesto | Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan progress in men's singles
Indian paddlers Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan progressed to the next round in the men's singles at the WTT Contender Novo Mesto 2021. Taking on compatriot Harmeet Desai, in the round of 32, Sathiyan beat the latter 3-1 (11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 16-14) to set up a second-round clash against Darko Jorgic.
Interestingly, Sathiyan and Desai had won the men's doubles title at the WTT Contenter Tunis, together last month. On the other hand, Sharath eased past his Japanese opponent Takuya Jin 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-6). In the second round, he will be up against China’s Liang Jingkun.
In the women's singles, Diya Chitale lost 1-3 (11-7, 5-11, 6-11, 10-12) to Portuguese Fu Yu. Meanwhile, Sreeja Akula, who managed to enter the main draw as a lucky loser in the qualifiers, went down 1-3 to Australia’s Yangzi Liu.
In the men's doubles section, all the teams in the fray, went down in their respective round of 16 matches. Manav Thakkar and Sharath Kamal lost 1-3 to Japan’s Hiroto Shinozuka and Yuma Tanigaki, while Jeet Chandra and Snehit Suravajjula lost 0-3 to Sweden’s Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson.
In the mixed doubles, the pair of Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath lost 1-3 against Singapore’s Goi Rui Xuan and Chua Josh Shao Han. Now only Sharath and Sathiyan are the lone-standing Indians in the main draw.Â